Nick Fury is director of S.H.I.E.L.D, an international peace keeping agency. The agency is a who's who of Marvel Super Heroes, with Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Thor, Captain America, Hawkeye and Black Widow. When global security is threatened by Loki and his cohorts, Nick Fury and his team will need all their powers to save the world from disaster.

The Avengers is one of the most fun movies. That previous sentence was not missing a clause or specification.

I really can't do a proper review justice, so I'll just hit a bunch of bullet points:

At first, I was dismayed that I had purchased 3D/IMAX tickets for a movie not shot in that format, but this may be the perfect example of an excellent post-conversion. It's crystal clear, and whoever worked on this (whether it's Whedon or someone else) "understands" 3D much better. It doesn't feel like a cheap addition, just something that got as much thought put into it as, say, the sound mixing. There's also a few 3D fan service scenes with the female characters.

If you were like me, you spent a considerable amount of your early comic book–reading years locked in discussions along the lines of "Who would win in a fight between x and y?" Prepare to add more fodder to these discussions. The best fight scenes are between the existing characters, and are used throughout the film, keeping the pace quick through the finale.

As you would expect from a Whedon script, the one-liners are hilarious and a lot of times unexpected.

Good gravy, Cobie Smulders is one of the most attractive women on the planet. Guess I had to see her 30 feet tall.

Each character gets plenty of screen time, so it doesn't feel like anyone gets stiffed. Except maybe

Spoiler:

Hawkeye who gets taken over by Loki and is a villain for more than half the film.

I saw it with two others people, who had little knowledge of comic books (but had seen the other films) and both loved it. If anyone liked any of the past movies, they'll like this one.

You don't need to stay to the very, very end of the credits, just halfway through, when they introduce the next villain:

__________________
John Henson: McDonald's has dumped Kobe Bryant as their spokesperson and have replaced him with Yao Ming. Apparently McDonald's prefers Yao because he is a bigger international star, and he doesn't rape so much.

__________________So there's simultaneously a super secret team of giant robots and a super secret team of technologically enhanced super soldiers, and neither team knows about the other? The governments in these movies must be far more effective than our actual government. Well, damn it, I want some realism and mature adult themes in my giant robot and super soldier movies! - Suprmallet

You really didn't miss much as it was really bad cam quality and hard to see anything. Basically it is Thanos saying that they underestimated the Avengers, Loki bows down before him, and the camera then focuses on Thanos' arm which I suppose was the Infinity Gauntlet but hard to tell in the poor cam quality. Then Thanos says something like "to challenge them is to court death" (a double meaning for comic book readers since Thanos is in love with the personification of Death in the comics). Thanos then turns around and we get a quick half a second look at his face. And that's it.

You really didn't miss much as it was really bad cam quality and hard to see anything. Basically it is Thanos saying that they underestimated the Avengers, Loki bows down before him, and the camera then focuses on Thanos' arm which I suppose was the Infinity Gauntlet but hard to tell in the poor cam quality. Then Thanos says something like "to challenge them is to court death" (a double meaning for comic book readers since Thanos is in love with the personification of Death in the comics). Thanos then turns around and we get a quick half a second look at his face. And that's it.

You really didn't miss much as it was really bad cam quality and hard to see anything. Basically it is Thanos saying that they underestimated the Avengers, Loki bows down before him, and the camera then focuses on Thanos' arm which I suppose was the Infinity Gauntlet but hard to tell in the poor cam quality. Then Thanos says something like "to challenge them is to court death" (a double meaning for comic book readers since Thanos is in love with the personification of Death in the comics). Thanos then turns around and we get a quick half a second look at his face. And that's it.

Spoiler:

Basically correct; it wasn't Loki but a Chitauri bowing and saying that to challenge Earth is to court death. Then a close up to the other guy, with him smiling in response.

I got to agree that Hulk was my favorite, too. He was awesome in the fights, but he also had the audience laughing.

Great stuff, took my 8 year old and we had a blast. Ruffalo was a awesome Banner and best use yet of Hulk. Loki great choice as villain too, best of the foes in the past movies and Hiddleston is excellent. More when I soak it in but other than a slightly slow start it's a great flick.

I don't understand why this is getting rave reviews while the movie is average at best with today's special effects.

There's more to a movie than special effects. You can have the greatest effects around but if the story and cast blow then so does the movie. Have so-so effects and a great cast and story and the movie is still good. I think folks are too harsh on special effects these days. Just my opinion though.
Story>special effects in my book.